Charlotte Hogg resigns from Bank of England after scathing MPs' report

Treasury committee says deputy governor's 'professional competence falls short of the very high standards required'

Bank of England

Charlotte Hogg has resigned as deputy governor and chief operating officer of the Bank of England, minutes after a scathing report by MPs into a conflict of interest scandal.

Hogg, who is 46, was appointed deputy governor for markets and banking three weeks ago, having rejoined the central bank as chief operating officer in the summer of 2013.

The daughter of two Tory peers and the granddaughter of one-time party leadership candidate Lord Hailsham started her career at the Bank of England in 1993 before compiling an impressive CV in commercial banking.

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Her downfall follows the revelation that she had failed to disclose to her bosses for four years that her brother works at Barclays.

During the hearing in front of the Treasury Select Committee last month, she insisted that she complied with the Bank of England's code of conduct, which she helped to write. The non-disclosure meant Hogg was failing to do so, opening her up to accusations of a conflict of interest.

Her resignation follows intense scrutiny in recent days and comes just 25 minutes after the Treasury committee published a report rescinding its verdict that she had the professional competence for the deputy governor role.

The report states that Hogg's "professional competence falls short of the very high standards required", reports The Guardian.

It adds that she failed to appreciate the seriousness of the failure, having missed multiple opportunities to make the disclosure over the years and having said since the hearing that it presents no actual or potential conflict.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who had tried to draw a line under the affair previously by issuing a verbal warning, stood by Hogg and said he deeply regretted the decision.

Her resignation means that from June there could be no women at all on the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, says the Financial Times.

External member Kristen Forbes is due to stand down by then. Helen Goodman, a Labour member of the Treasury select committee, said the Bank should be mindful of this when it appoints Hogg's replacement.

The Treasury committee also said in light of the debacle that it would undertake a review of the bank's court, which is essentially its management board.

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